Sundhara based Gulab Sweets fined Rs 200,000 for poor hygiene standards

KATHMANDU: Government has fined Gulab Mithai Sundhara Rs 200,000 for the latter’s failure to meet the hygiene standards set by the government.

Gulab brand sweets are being produced and sold in different parts of the city by registering under the name of Salimar Hospitality and Food Pvt. Kathmandu, Nepal.

The Market Management and Consumer Rights Protection Committee of Kathmandu Metropolitan city has fined the sweet shop after finding, during its inspection, the shop did not meet the health safety and hygiene standards.

The Committee found expired items, the products of other companies were in ready position to be labelled as Gulab and Shalimar. The shop had even labelled its product as Indian ones. Many of the production even did not have the manufactured and expiry date.

Earlier, the monitoring team had also inspected the shop on New Road. There it had found sacks full of beaten rice without the production date label on them.

Hari Bahadur Bhandari, Inspection official at the Metropolitan city informed that the Committee took action after finding the shop not abiding its directives.

“We fined the shop for not following the instructions given earlier,” Bhandari told Khabarhub.

Earlier, the metropolis had raided the area on October 25 and ordered to make necessary corrections to make its products as per the health and hygiene standards set by the government.

During the raid, the officials had found the workers with shoes placing the sweets to be packed on the ground and packing them without abiding health safety protocols. They did wore shoes but did not use gloves, apron and headgear.

Workers making sweets on the first floor of the rose were making laddu with empty hands. Lalmohan and raspberries were kept in a large container next to it.

Looking at the goods on the third floor, 10 expired 1 kg packets of gram flour produced by Dugad Company were also there. On the next floor, in the dark corner next to the store, there was 26 kg of spoilt gram flour in a bag. There were insects in the flour.

The monitoring team had asked the owners to improve the quality by destroying those items.

“The ingredients found in Gulab Sweets could have a serious impact on food safety,” said Kaushal Ojha, a food inspector at the Department of Food Technology and Quality Control.